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March 13, 2006
New gym keeping Mercer police
fit
By Bill Archer
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Princeton --- Deputies
of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department are exercising a little more
than good judgment these days thanks to the efforts of Sheriff Danny
Wills and several other volunteers from the department and some generous
donations from area businesses.
“I really wanted to develop an exercise
program for the department when I was elected,” Wills said. He soon learned that county funds were
tight and if he really wanted to create a program, he would have to find
a way to do it with limited resources.
“We had about $4000 from the calendar
fund, and a little more money from the criminal background checks we do
as part of the concealed weapons fund,” Wills said. “We didn’t have any real donations, but
Wal-Mart gave us the television, we purchased a Smith machine and two
treadmills from Sams. Deputy R. E. Haynes gave us the Olympic
weight equipment.
“I donated my exercise bicycle and a
stereo system,” Wills said. He
said that a Mercer
County lumber mill
provided rough-cut poplar boards at a good value. “Cpl. Gary Woods and I took the wood up
to the old Forest Services lab and finished it.”
Wills and department volunteers removed
a wall between the old kitchen and the offices previously used by Chief
Deputy Darrell Bailey and Administrative Assistant Winnie Haynes. The volunteers assembled the siding,
installed padding and flooring. He
said the volunteers all worked on their own time.
“We were able to open it up just before
Christmas,” Wills said. “It gets
pretty busy just before deputies start their shifts and after they get
off work. It’s getting a lot of
use. They’re already telling me
they need another treadmill.”
Wills has maintained a personal physical
fitness regimen throughout his life and hopes that the deputies will
enjoy the program.
________________________________________________________________________
March
12, 2006
Mercer County Sheriff’s Department bids farewell to Reverend
Erick
Riddle
During the past three years, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office has been
very fortunate to have the services of Reverend Erick Riddle serving as
the Sheriff’s Office Chaplain. Erick recently accepted a position in his
native Indiana
and will be the Pastor of a church in that region. He will be
greatly missed by his friends, the congregation of the Church of Christ
of Maple View, and the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office. Erick was
instrumental in finding a replacement that was both capable and willing
to serve in this capacity. We wish him the very best with his new
calling. We are very thankful that Dr. David W. Dockery, Pastor of the First Baptist
Church in Princeton, WV,
has taken over Reverend Riddle’s duties.
R. L. Boone,
Sr.
Dr. David W. Dockery
Biography
David was born to
George and Magdalene Dockery in Tuscaloosa,
Alabama. He received
his B. A. Degree from Samford
University in Birmingham, Alabama
in 1977 and was ordained as a minister in 1978. He furthered his
education receiving a Master of Divinity Degree from Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Louisville,
KY in 1980 and his
Doctorate from the same school in 1985.
Dr. David W. Dockery
came to the First Baptist Church
in Princeton in 1990 as their Pastor
having had years of experience as a Missionary, Youth Director, plus
positions of Associate Pastor and Pastor of earlier congregations that he
had served.
David enjoys
racquetball, handball and outdoor sports in his spare time. He is
married to the former Maribeth Halsell and they are the proud parents of two
children, Lydia Ruth and Andrew David.
In addition to Dr.
Dockery, we are fortunate to have R. L. Boone, Sr., a former Deputy
Sheriff who presently works for the Sheriff’s Office as a Civil Process
Server. Roscoe, as he is known to all, has volunteered to assist
our Chaplain in any way that he can. He has taken several courses
related to the duties of Chaplain on his own time and has a strong
personal desire to serve in this manner. Roscoe is the father of
two sons, one of which is a WV State Trooper,
the oldest is a Correctional Officer with the State of VA. He is proud of his
thirty-eight year marriage to Frances and both are quite
proud of their six grandchildren. Mr. Boone also is an Adult Sunday
School teacher at the Bluefield Virginia Church of God where both he and
his wife are members.
___________________________________________
October
18, 2005
Sheriff's
department now offering wealth of information online
Posted: Monday, Oct 17, 2005 - 10:25:44 pm EDT
By BILL ARCHER
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
PRINCETON - The Mercer County Sheriff's Department has made a major leap
forward in the area of communications with the launch of a web site that
includes a veritable treasure trove of information.
Unlike the “captain” (Strother Martin) of Paul
Newman's prison camp in the 1967 classic movie, “Cool Hand Luke,” who
quipped: “What we have here is failure to communicate,” Mercer County
Sheriff Danny Wills worked with his godson, Partap
Verma, to develop a user-friendly site that
contains an incredible amount of useful information.
“We stayed in close contact for the past eight weeks as we were working
on the site,” Wills said. “Sometimes, we would work on it as late as 2
a.m. I'm proud of the site and I'm proud of all the work he's done on
it.”
The site is located at
http://www.wvmcs.org and includes interesting historical information as
well as data related to the present staff. While some features are listed
as "under construction," the majority of the categories on the
site are complete. The site includes links to the West Virginia State
Police web site and to the state sex offender registry.
"We're still working on it,"
Wills said. "We hope to build it up to a point where it will be a
one-stop shopping site for information on the county. I hope other
departments will see the site and develop their own sites." In an
e-mail announcing the launch of the site, Wills expressed his
appreciation to Chief Deputy Darrell Bailey and the entire department for
their help in creating the site. "The site was initiated with the
idea of honoring the members of this department for their dedication and
hard work," Wills wrote. "I truly appreciate all of you and
what you do each day."
Verma, 27, started building web sites as an undergraduate
student at the University
of Maryland. He
graduated from the Dickinson School of Law of Penn State
University earlier
this year and has accepted a position as an attorney with the U.S. State
Department. "We want to keep adding information to the site,"
Wills said. "We check it frequently and will work to make
improvements."
– Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com
_____________________________________________________________________
October 3, 2005
ATTENTION MERCER COUNTY CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS
Mercer County Sheriff
Danny Wills has a definite interest in our young people, for they are the
future of our community and as much a part of it as any other
citizen. Dealing with responsible young people with positive values
is one of the rewards of our job and requires the assistance and support
of the entire community. “Deputy Phil” will enhance our
relationship and help us successfully protect you, the community we
serve.
The “Deputy Phil”
program is a bridge to help us reach or children to instill a responsible
level of positive attitudes and safety awareness. These ideas are
presented to our youth through a unique series of illustrations and work
projects. Individual lessons are designed so as not to frighten or
alarm the children, but to alert them to any dangers which may exist and
what action they should take if confronted with these situations.
Informative books, animated presentations, teacher input and parental
participation are the main ingredients of this valuable program.
This is our first year
with the valuable educational program, which is made possible by the
sponsors whose names are contained within the pages of the booklets that
will be given to the children in attendance. To them I extend my
sincerest appreciation. It has provided an opportunity for the
members of the Mercer county Sheriff’s Office to present an important
message in a positive and friendly environment.
This program is funded
by private individuals and businesses. No taxpayer money was used
to fund this program.
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